Daily Current affairs - June 2nd, 2017 for all competitive exams
Minister for road transport and
highways Nitin Gadkari has launched 'INAM PRO+'. It is an
e-commerce platform for construction and infrastructure raw material for
government and private procurement.
- The website 'inampro.nic.in' launched by the
National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation
(NHIDCL).
- INAM PRO+ is an updated version of the INAM portal,
which was launched by the ministry of road transport and highways in 2015,
to procure cement. The INAM portal has already done sales worth Rs32 crore
in two years.
Telangana launches T-Wallet for people with and
without mobile phones
The Telangana Government has launched a
digital wallet, named T-Wallet, which doesn’t charge transaction fee
from consumers.
- T-Wallet is bi-directional
in nature. While consumers use it for public and private transactions, the
government can use it to make payments to various beneficiaries. It also
can be used over the web version.
- One can top up the wallet using credit
or debit cards, Internet banking or through cash at Mee Seva centres.
It allows a maximum transaction of Rs1 lakh for e-KYC (know your
customer) users. For non-KYC users, the limit is set to Rs20,000.
Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis launches portal
for job seekers, employers
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra
Fadnavis launched a web portal 'Mahaswayam' that will cater to
job seekers, employers, entrepreneurs, and training institutes who can avail
details regarding skill development and employment.
- Earlier, the state government ran three different
portals- Maharashtra State Skill Development Society (MSSDS) portal for
Skill Development, 'Maharojgar' for employment and 'Mahaswayamrojgar' for
entrepreneurship.
Rajasthan
leads in child marriages
The report of
a study conducted on child marriages by Young Lives in coordination with the
National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has been released.
- Rajasthan has reported the highest
incidence of child marriages in the country. 2.5% of marriages of minor
girls were reported in Rajasthan.
- Rajasthan is followed by 15
States, including Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh,
Gujarat, Sikkim, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Nagaland, Assam,
Maharashtra, Tripura, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Karnataka.
No marriage
below 10 years of age was reported across the country.
Internet usage rises 28% in 2016: report
Internet users in India grew to an estimated 355
million users in 2016, up 28% from 277 million in the previous year, according
to a report.
- However, Internet penetration still stands at 27%,
according to Mary Meeker Internet Trends 2017 report.
- It pointed out that while the average selling price of
a smartphone and the cost of wireless data were declining, they were still
unaffordable for many people.
- In India, little less than 80% of Internet usage
happens via mobiles as opposed to the global average of 50%.
India,
Russia ink nuclear plant pact
India and
Russia have signed the much-awaited agreement on setting up two more units of
Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) in Tamil Nadu.
- PM Modi and Putin had come to an
agreement in 2015. Under that agreement, the deal for building unit 5 and
unit 6 of nuclear reactors at the plant was supposed to be inked in 2016.
The deal ran into a hurdle with regard to the line of credit that was to
be extended by Russia.
Third
gravitational wave merger detected
The Laser
Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors in the U.S. have
detected yet another merger of two black holes.
- Named GW170104, this signal marks
the third confirmed detection of gravitational waves coming from a binary
black hole merger.
- It is of great interest to the
scientific community that the black holes, having masses nearly 31 times
and 19 times the sun’s mass. Until the first detection of gravitational
waves by LIGO in 2015 (GW150914) it was not known that such massive black
holes could exist.
- The observation also
supports Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity.
Prithvi-II missile successfully test-fired
India successfully test-fired
its indigenously developed nuclear-capable Prithvi-II missile from a
test range in Odisha as part of a user trial by the Army.
- The trial of the surface-to-surface missile, which has a strike range of 350 km, was carried out using a mobile launcher of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Chandipur, Odisha.
India ranked 137th in the Global Peace Index 2017
India has ranked 137th out of 163
countries on Global Peace Index 2017 published by The Institute
of Economics and Peace. This is the eleventh edition of the Global
Peace Index (GPI).
- Iceland has been named the world's most
peaceful country, topping the Global Peace Index for the tenth
consecutive year followed by New Zealand and Portugal at second and third
position while Syria has been named the least peaceful country.
UN General Assembly elects Slovakia's Miroslav
Lajcak as next president
The UN General Assembly elected Slovak
foreign minister Miroslav Lajcak to be the next president of the
193-member powerful body.
- Lajcak was elected by acclamation as
President of the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly at a special
session. The 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly will
commence from September 12, 2017.
Pak. army may shift HQ to Islamabad
Pakistan’s powerful army plans to shift its
General Headquarters (GHQ) from Rawalpindi to the capital Islamabad and is
ready to kick off construction on the ambitious project.
- The decision was disclosed by an official of the
Capital Development Authority during a meeting of the Public Accounts
Committee subcommittee.
Japan launches satellite for high-precision
positioning system
Japan launched a satellite to help build a
high-precision geolocation system that will complement the US-operated GPS.
- A 'H-IIA' rocket blasted off from the Tanegashima space center in southern Japan carrying the 'Michibiki' No.2 satellite. The Michibiki system is capable of covering the Asia-Oceania region and works with the US-operated Global Positioning System (GPS).
NAAC
received APQN Quality Award 2017
National
Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) of India has received prestigious
International Award of Asia Pacific Quality Network (APQN) titled “APQN Quality
Award 2017 for International Co-operation in Quality Assurance.”
- APQN Quality Award are among the most prestigious International Awards in quality assurance of higher education.
BEML product bags award
Defence public sector BEML Ltd has
bagged the Raksha Mantri’s Award for Excellence for design and
development of 180-tonne electric hydraulic excavator BE1800E.
- Deepak Kumar Hota, CMD, BEML received the award from Defence Minister Arun Jaitley.
RBI appoints Ganesh Kumar as ED
Reserve Bank of India has appointed S.
Ganesh Kumar as Executive Director. His appointment is
consequent upon voluntary retirement of Chandan Sinha.
- The central bank currently has 11 Executive Directors. Prior to being promoted as ED, Ganesh Kumar was Chief General Manager-in-Charge, Department of Information Technology in the Reserve Bank.
SEBI nod for Bharti Airtel,
Telenor merger
Bharti Airtel on Thursday announced that it has
received the approval of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), BSE
and NSE for the proposed scheme of merger between Airtel and Telenor (India)
Communications Private Limited.
- Telenor India and Airtel had filed the joint company application before the New Delhi Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal for approval.
Shinjini to head Citi India’s arm
Shinjini Kumar has joined Citi India as the head
of its consumer banking business.
- Ms. Kumar, who had spent 17 years at the Reserve Bank of India and five years with PwC, had joined Paytm after it received in-principle licence to start a payments bank.
Sanjiv Singh takes over as IOC Chairman
Sanjiv Singh has taken over as
the Chairman of the country’s biggest company Indian Oil
Corporation. He replaces B Ashok.
- Prior to his elevation, Mr.Singh was Director (Refineries) on the IOC board since July 2014. Concurrently, he will also be Chairman of Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd (CPCL) and Hindustan Urvarak and Rasayan Ltd (HURL), a joint venture company set up to revive the fertilizer plants at Gorakhpur, Sindri and Barauni.
Nirupama Rao appointed Public Policy Fellow to US
Think-Tank
Nirupama Rao has been appointed as the
public policy fellow of Sino-India ties a top American think-tank based in
Washington.
- She was India's first woman ambassador to china and also served as India's foreign secretary from 2009 to 2011.
Guha quits BCCI panel
Historian Ramachandra Guha, one of the four
members of the Committee of Administrators (CoA) appointed by the Supreme Court
to run the BCCI, wants out.
- Mr. Guha informed a vacation Bench of Justices M.M. Shantanagoudar and Deepak Gupta that he had resigned from his post and had discussed the issue with the committee’s chairperson and former Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai.
